Improvement in attaching knives and forks to handles



G. S. HASTINGS. mwggggz-m xmvxs Ann FORKS T0 HANDLES. No.

Patented Aug.29,1876.

ailing UNITED STATES PATENT orrron.

CLOVER S. HASTINGS, OF UNION VILLE, CONNECTICUT.

IMPROVEMENT lN ATTACHING KNIVES AND FORKS T O HANDLES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 181,676, dated August 29, 1876; application filed- February 10, 1876.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GLoVEa S. HASTINGS, of Unionville, Hartford county, Connecticut, have invented certain Improvements in Table- Knives and Handles for the Same, of which the following is a specification:

The object of my invention is to secure the blades of table-knives to handles in a substantial and permanent manner; and this object I attain in the manner which I will now proceed to describe.

In the accompanying drawing, Figure 1 represents part of the blade of a knife detached from the handle; Fig. 2, a sectional view of the handle; Figs. 3 and 4, views showing the mode of applying the forked end of the blade to the handle; Fig. 5, a transverse section of the handle, drawn to an enlarged scale; Fig. 6, an end view of the handle, also drawn to an enlarged scale; Fig. 7, a section on the line 1 2; and Figs. 8 and 9, modifications of my invention.

The blade A of the knife, instead of being furnished at its inner end with theusual tang, is forked, as shown in Fig. l, the prongs a a. being but slightly thicker than the blade, and being bent at their outer ends toward each other, and these bent ends 11 b being hooked, so as to interlock, in the manner shown in Fig. 6. The handle B is made in one piece, and has a T-shaped groove, (shown in Fig. 5,)

. which is continued along the opposite edges and ends, as best observed in Fig.

The prongs a a of the blade are first spread apart for the admission of the handle, and after the latter has been introduced, as shown in Fig. 3, and the prongs released, the latter will recoil and enter the narrowest portion of.

. channels being continued along the edges and opposite ends of the blades, and these channels may be filled with cement of suitable character but I prefer to pour into them a metal or alloy which will melt at a comparatively low temperature, and become hard The above-described mode of securing blades to handles permits me to make the latter of glass, earthenware, or other like material, which, under ordinary circumstances, may be easily fractured, but which, in my invention, is et't'ectually embraced and protected by the prongs. 1

My invention may also be used with advantage in connection with handles of a tougher material, such as wood, bone, hard rubber, ivory, &c., in which case the groove in the handle and the prongs may terminate at no a, Fig.8, the said prongs being locked to the handle in the manner there shown. In some cases, also, a V-shaped recess may be formed at the point where the prongs join the blade, as in Fig. 9, the filling material entering this recess, and forming a bolster to strengthen the connection of the knife and handle.

It will be evident that my invention may be applied to table-forks, and to all knives in which a secure and permanent attachment of the blade to the handle is desirable.

I am aware that knives and forks have heretofore been made with blades having forked ends adapted to grooves in the handle. This I do not claim; but

I claim as my invention 1. The combination of the handle, having a groove extending along its opposite edges and ends, with a blade having prongs a, a, adapted to the groove, and curved and notched at their outer ends, so as to be interlocked and em brace the handle, all substantially as set forth.

2. The combination of the prongs a a with a handle having a T-shaped groove deeper than the prongs "are wide, and wider near the edges of the handle than the prongs are thick, 

